* Citing anonymous sources familiar with the decision, the Chicago Tribune is reporting Gov. Pat Quinn plans to announce he would prefer to run with Sheila Simon.
The sources, who asked not to be identified so as to not preempt Quinn’s public announcement of a running mate on Friday, said the governor ultimately rejected another top contender for the post, state Sen. Susan Garrett of Lake Forest, who has been reluctant to fully embrace his call for an income tax increase without preconditions. Simon said she would back the governor’s plan.
* Simon is daughter of the late former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, a southern Illinois Democrat. An associate law professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale, Simon is a former member of the Carbondale city council and challenged incumbent Republican Mayor Brad Cole in the spring of 2007.
Rich says he had been hearing talks of Quinn’s decision, which he expects to formally announce Friday, throughout today.
Gov. Pat Quinn said he intends to be conservative when using expected savings from the massive pension overhaul to help balance next year’s state budget.
At a Statehouse news conference today, Quinn said the administration will stick with an estimated $300 million in savings that he built into his budget proposal earlier this month. The legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability thinks the changes could save the state anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion next year.
Quinn has not yet signed the pension bill, but said he will shortly.
“This is the mother of all cutting spending proposals,” Quinn said. “Anyone who wants cuts in government, you’ve got it. This was a political earthquake.”
* The governor also took a funny little shot at the Tribune’s reactionary editorial board today when asked a question by a Trib reporter about his lite guv choice. Watch…
* Quinn also took questions about the cuts to the State Police. He essentially admitted that his proposed tax hike for education could take the pressure off other areas of the bureaucracy. Have a look-see…
The lawmaker who drew criticism for initially refusing to relinquish a $25,000 statue that belonged to Chicago State University is now in trouble over remarks she made about minorities Wednesday.
Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) apologized to Hispanic lawmakers after she generalized about Latinos and tacos while protesting a bill to license hair braiders.
“You do not license a Chinese person to sell Chinese food. You do not license a Latino to sell tacos,” Davis said. “You do not license an African-American woman to hair-braid.”
Representatives Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago) and Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) quickly rose to protest Davis’ stereotype.
“For anyone to come to this floor and make fun of my ethnicity, I’m so appalled at the statement that was made on the House floor,” Acevedo said.
The quotes above don’t do her initial comment or the rebukes justice. You can listen to it all by clicking here. Davis’ logic was weird and twisted, and she deserved the blow-back.
She did eventually apologize…
“I apologize to them and I want them to know and the body to know that I have the utmost respect from the bottom of my heart for the multicultural diversity of our body,” Davis said.
* We didn’t post this story from earlier this month, but it was something I broke and then eventually followed up on by Kristen McQueary of the Southtown Star. I found it today while looking for something else.
The basic gist is that a Democratic township committeeman with close ties to the Pat Quinn campaign is alleged to have pressured a potential appointee to the Illinois House to vote for the governor’s tax hike.
Worth Township Democratic Committeeman John O’Sullivan supported Kelly Burke for the House and she supported his campaign against an incumbent as well. Burke defeated a candidate backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, but she made up with MJM and wanted the appointment after incumbent Rep. Jim Brosnahan (D-Evergreen Park) resigned. Everybody figured it was a “go” since Burke and O’Sullivan were allies. But it all fell apart.
While Burke told O’Sullivan she wanted the appointment, things started to unravel last weekend. In a series of phone calls, O’Sullivan began pressuring Burke to commit to supporting an income tax increase if she was sent to Springfield.
Burke wouldn’t comment publicly on that part of the story, but four sources confirmed it happened - including someone from O’Sullivan’s camp.
O’Sullivan denied he pressured her.
“The fact of the matter is (Burke) couldn’t give me a commitment as far as protecting these teaching jobs. My wife is a teacher. She’s one of them,” O’Sullivan said. “We felt with (Carberry’s) union background - he’s very affiliated with the teachers in our community and the unions - he would be a great candidate. Saving teaching jobs is our main objective. I don’t know if (Burke) thinks she was owed this appointment, but we have plenty of teachers in our community who are very nervous about this.” […]
Burke, however, wasn’t comfortable with strings attached to the appointment.
There are many claims from insiders that the Quinn campaign was directly involved with this pressure on Kelly, but the governor’s campaign won’t comment.
* Speaking of MJM, he had a bit of fun with my intern Barton Lorimor yesterday. Watch…
And while we’re looking at silly videos, here’s a weird one of Rep. Bill Black…
* 11:14 am - The Senate just SB2494, which would create a pilot school vouchers program for Chicago elementary schools. It would impact about 22,000 students.
Whew, I wouldn’t want to be a teachers union lobbyist this week, man. “If they would just vote down a tax increase this week we’d have the trifecta,” cracked one union official a few minutes ago.
* 11:15 am - The Senate is now taking up the red light camera bill, SB935.
* 11:51 am - The bill, which was a compromise worked out by Senate President John Cullerton, passed 45-10.
Over Republican objections, the Illinois Senate endorsed legislation Thursday that will assure the state’s prison guards get paid in June.
Democrats argued the stopgap spending measure is needed because the budget approved last summer was based on Gov. Pat Quinn laying off hundreds of prison guards.
But the union representing the workers was able to block the move, meaning the state will still have to pay the employees. The shortfall — expected to affect the state’s June payroll — is about $31 million.
Republicans complained the Illinois Department of Corrections should cut its spending on things like cookies and cable television for inmates in order to make up the shortfall.
“The mismanagement from this administration does not warrant more money,” said state Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine.
A $50 million job creation program is headed to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.
In action Thursday, the Illinois Senate unanimously approved a plan to give small business owners a $2,500 tax credit for each full-time position created in the next year.
It would affect people hired at a rate of $13.75 or above at companies that have fewer 50 employees. The program would be capped at 20,000 workers.
* House Republican Leader Tom Cross teamed up yesterday with former GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski to call for a “forensic audit” of the state budget…
[Andrzejewski] said during the Blagojevich and Quinn administrations, even other elected officials and government agencies couldn’t get a handle on how large state government has become and how much state government is spending.
“The comptroller said we have 252 state programs. Auditor [Bill] Holland said we have 1,750, and he said we had more but he couldn’t quantify the number. Auditor Holland said we have 100 state agencies. The comptroller said we have 69. We don’t even know the basics of Illinois financial data,” said Andrzejewski.
Andrzejewski said if an audit could straighten-out those inconsistencies, Illinois could find $1.25 billion in savings.
House Leader Cross wouldn’t go that far. But said there could be some money found which could be better spent.
Some of those differences are about semantics, but he has a good point.
Andrzejewski told the SJ-R in January that the cost of the audit would be at least $60 million. The auditor general would be in charge of this project, but the current fiscal year’s appropriation for the auditor general’s office is $24.3 million all funds, including $6.8 million GRF. So, a $60 million project would be unprecedented for that office.
The price tag is one reason House Democrats are dismissing the idea.
“I question what the motivation is and why you’d want to spend tens of millions of dollars when the state is broke,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. “It’s a huge waste of money.”
Brown also said the study would essentially duplicate the auditor general’s responsibilities.
Cross’ resolution was introduced yesterday and is now in Rules Committee. You can safely bet that the HGOPs will make a stir on the floor to get that thing released.
The Daley administration will strongly oppose Gov. Quinn’s plan to impose State Police cutbacks so draconian, they would require Chicago Police to assume primary responsibility for patrolling 53 miles of Chicago area expressways, City Hall sources said today.
State Police have had exclusive control over Chicago area expressways since 1985. That’s when 12 months of negotiations between then-Mayor Harold Washington and then-Gov. Jim Thompson culminated in a deal that transferred responsibility to the state in exchange for the right to sell lottery tickets at O’Hare Airport.
Sources said Mayor Daley will attempt to hold the state to that agreement on grounds that Chicago cannot afford what amounts to an unfunded mandate from the state.
If they didn’t put it into statute, I’m not sure he can hold Quinn to it. We’ll see.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says a four day school week isn’t the answer to school funding issues.
That’s after the Illinois House of Representatives passed a measure giving local school districts the option of closing schools one day a week, while offering longer school days. The move would save schools money on transportation and utilities.
But Daley says it would place an unfair burden on parents.
DALEY: Again, when you think four day school week, what do parents then do on a Friday or a Monday or a Wednesday? Many parents are working. A single parent has to work. And so how do they afford then… what do they do with their child? There’s so many problems with this issue.
We always encourage schools and lawmakers to work together to save money and improve learning. For a rural district with long bus routes, the reduced transportation costs - along with salary savings on other nonunion personnel such as food service workers - might save enough to make this worth considering.
However, we doubt this kind of change would be a good fit for suburban districts, which generally have a smaller percentage of students taking buses and travel a shorter distance. Lifestyle issues such as child care and activities also would make a four-day school week more of a hardship.
“We would save $100,000 or more a school year … (if we) run the buses one less day a week. I turn the heat off an extra day a week. Your cafeteria is open one day less a week,” said Mark Janesky, superintendent of Jamaica School District in Vermilion County.
His district, with less than 500 students, covers 110 square miles. The cost savings in busing alone would be substantial, he said.
“We’re out in the middle of a cornfield,” he said. “Under the circumstances, busing is a huge issue for us.”
* There was a microscopic bit of good news on the budget front…
Illinois’ prison population declined by 313 inmates in 2009, says the Pew Center on the States, adding to an annual decrease in the number of inmates in state prisons nationwide for the first time in nearly four decades.
In a report titled, “Prison Count 2010,” Pew says the number of inmates in state prisons nationwide dropped .4 percent in 2009 – the first decline since 1972. That equates to about 5,700 fewer prisoners, out of about 1.4 million in state prisons across the United States.
“After nearly four decades of uninterrupted growth, an annual drop in the state prison population is worthy of note, no matter the scale of decline,” Pew says. “However, it is too soon to say whether the 2009 decline will be a temporary blip or the beginning of a sustained downward trend.”
The decrease in Illinois comes after nearly 2,000 Illinois inmates were released early from state prisons in 2009, and many were subsequently re-incarcerated when public outcry forced a halt to the early release program. Illinois currently holds about 45,000 inmates in facilities designed for about 31,000.
* Some people are just never happy unless they get everything they want. For instance, here is a press release by R. Eden Martin, the president of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago regarding the pension reform bill approved yesterday…
“This bill is a small step in the right direction but it doesn’t begin to solve the State’s urgent fiscal problems. The only way to achieve significant cost reductions now is to reform retirement benefits for current state employees prospectively and new hires moving forward. The people of Illinois are not going to be satisfied with tiny steps in the right direction when we have a State fiscal crisis of this magnitude on our hands.”
Senate President John Cullerton said yesterday that his research shows cutting benefits not yet earned by current employees cannot legally be done. And the General Assembly was nervous enough about cutting benefits for future employees that a cut to current employees would’ve been hugely tough, if not downright impossible.
That said, we understand the realpolitik here: Democrats and Republicans who voted for this bill Wednesday can tell voters they’ve done something worthwhile, even if it doesn’t much diminish the state’s current budget crisis or pay down our already staggering unfunded pension obligations.
What the politicians can’t pretend, though, is that this bill repairs how Illinois spends money today. Until they’ve made the major spending reforms that this page and other voices keep advocating, Gov. Pat Quinn is free to keep scaring people with his threat to slash education funding by $1.3 billion.
As we’ve already discussed, the Tribune’s budget cut ideas are grossly inflated and some are even downright bogus. And if editorial board members had bothered to read their own paper, they’d know there are some significant immediate and longterm budget savings in this package…
But the growth in the state’s pension debt should be reduced dramatically, said Dan Long, executive director of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Long also said the state will save $119 billion over the next 35 years under the legislation.
Though major pension savings won’t accumulate for years, Quinn and lawmakers plan to use the pension changes to save money as they craft a budget in the face of a $13 billion shortfall. Because the bill allows officials to recalculate the state’s overall pension burden, they estimate saving $300 million to $1 billion in pension payments that would have been required in the next budget.
COGFA has a rough estimate of $500 million to $1 billion for next fiscal year. It won’t cure the deficit, but it ain’t chump change, either.
* Doug Whitley of the Illinois Chamber was far more optimistic than the naysayers…
“This bill is not window dressing. It’s substantial reform,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno.
The Sun-Times editorial board, which is way more reality-based than the Tribune’s grumpy old men, praised the proposal as a “giant first step.” But they did have some quibbles…
We don’t think all employees should wait until 67 to retire. Is that really the right age for a kindergarten teacher?
We’re concerned that the cost-of-living reduction is too severe. The bill exempts the financially weak pension systems for police officers and firefighters, which we think is a mistake.
* Require an employee to be 67 years old with 10 years of service in order to qualify for unreduced benefits. A person could retire at age 62 with 10 years of service, but with a reduction in benefits of 6 percent per year.
* Cap the salary used to determine benefits at $106,800.
* Base benefits on the highest average salary earned during eight consecutive years of the last 10 years of service. Now the benefit is based on four years of service.
* Would stop compounding annual cost-of-living benefit increases; those increases would be based on 3 percent or one-half of the consumer price index, whichever is less.
* Limit participation in the “alternative formula,” which provides enhanced benefits for high-risk state jobs, to correctional officers, state police and state firefighters.
* Do not allow a person to draw a pension from one system while working a full-time job covered by another pension system. Pension payments would be suspended during such a period.
The measure that passed Wednesday takes aim at 13 pension systems, including those representing state workers, teachers, Chicago city and park district employees, Cook County workers, legislators and judges. Police and firefighters are exempt from the changes.
The plan also gives Chicago’s public schools a windfall to address what could be a $1 billion deficit next school year by reducing the amount that must be contributed toward teacher pensions by $1.23 billion over three years. The measure also extends by 14 years the period when the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund must be 90 percent funded. It is now 74 percent funded.
We support this, reluctantly, because the only real alternative is unconscionable cuts in the classroom. In general, we oppose underfunding pensions. That is, after all, how Illinois got into this fiscal mess in the first place.
“This bill is nothing more than lawmakers shifting the burden of the state’s past mistakes onto future teachers and public employees,” said Ed Geppert, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “If this bill becomes law, Illinois will have the highest teacher retirement age in the country.”
The Illinois Federation of Teachers’ political director Steve Preckwinkle talked to me last night about the bill and the union’s political plans. Watch it…
David Vaught, Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget director, said he was concerned that Illinois’ bond rating, which determines the interest rate the state will have to pay on borrowed money, could be downgraded again when the state seeks to borrow about $1 billion in April to fund the capital construction plan.
Vaught said pension reform could help Illinois avoid a slip in its rating because it would show investors that the state is taking steps to address its structural deficit and “the straitjacket of skyrocketing pension costs.” The state’s total pension liability is $126.5, billion, $77.8 billion of which is unfunded.
* 12:12 pm - As I already told subscribers this morning, Speaker Michael Madigan has moved a pension reform plan that is hotly opposed by the unions. The bill passed the House Personnel and Pensions Committee by an 8-2 vote. The two “No” votes were both Springfield-area Republicans, Raymond Poe and Rich Brauer.
Madigan is expected to run a floor vote today and the Senate is expected to take up the bill as early as tomorrow.
The legislation creates a two-tiered pension system. It raises the retirement age, gets rid of double-dipping by a retiree if that person gets another public job, limits pensionable salaries to $106,800, etc…
Proposed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, the changes raise the retirement age to 67 in order to qualify for full benefits, restrict annual cost of living increases for retirees, limit the salary that can be used to determine retirement benefits and restrict those who qualify to earn enhanced benefits under the “alternative formula” set aside for high risk jobs.
If eventually enacted into law, the changes would go into effect Jan. 1 and affect future members of the State Employees Retirement System, State Universities Retirement System and Teachers Retirement System. Senate Bill 1946 also incorporates changes to lawmaker and judges retirement systems that were approved by the House last week. […]
A precise savings from the changes has not been determined, but a top Madigan aide said it should save “well over $100 billion” over several decades.
David Vaught, budget director for Gov. Pat Quinn, said lawmakers need to act quickly before an upcoming bond sale to pay for public works projects. Vaught said bond rating agencies will be looking at whether Illinois is taking steps to address its budget problems and could downgrade Illinois’ bond rating if nothing is done.
Speaker Madigan talked to reporters afterward. Among other things, he wasn’t optimistic that Republicans would support the pension bill. Watch the avail…
We’ll have budget director David Vaught’s comments in a bit as well as committee testimony by at least one opponent.
* 12:17 pm - From an IFT spokesperson…
Our estimate is this bill would reduce the state’s cost for a new teacher to 1 percent of payroll. Basically, new teachers will pay the entire cost, while the state pays over 8 percent for a new legislator.
* 12:25 pm - Budget director David Vaught testifies…
* 12:58 pm - Rep. Raymond Poe (R-Springfield) asked Speaker Madigan a whole lot of questions. Here’s part one…
*** 1:54 pm *** The House Republicans asked for a one-hour conference as soon as Madigan’s bill was brought up on the floor. They need to figure out what they’re gonna do. Back at 3ish.
*** 2:34 pm *** The IFT has issued a fact sheet on the bill. Click here.
*** 3:48 pm *** The House is now bebating the bill on Third Reading.
*** 5:05 pm *** The House approved the pension bill 92-17-7. Speaking to reporters minutes after the vote, Speaker Madigan said he expects the Senate to call the bill either tonight or tomorrow morning.
*** 8:20 pm *** Senators sent the pension reform bill that began movement in a House committee this morning to Gov. Pat Quinn by a 48-6-3 vote. From the committee hearing where Speaker Madigan read the amendments to SB1946 to the final Senate vote, it took the Legislature roughly 10 and a half hours to approve the bill.
* As I told subscribers today, a new lawsuit is about to be filed against the way the state funds schools. The Sun-Times editorialized in favor of it today…
The new lawsuit charges that the [school funding] system violates the equal protection clause of the Illinois Constitution because it forces homeowners in poor communities to pay higher property tax rates than owners of homes of similar value in more affluent areas.
It’s an interesting tactic, based on the state Constitution’s equal protection clause…
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law nor be denied the equal protection of the laws.
By law, the state each year establishes a “foundation level” of funding. Depending on property values, communities rely on different tax rates, along with state aid, to get there.
A $200,000 home in the south suburban Homewood-Flossmoor school district, for example, was taxed at a rate of 4.1 percent in 2006 while a home of the same value in the north suburban New Trier district was taxed at a rate of 1.7 percent. And, at the end of the day, New Trier spent about $3,400 more per student.
This lawsuit differs from all other suits filed anywhere in the country by using the equal protection language. The Urban League filed suit in 2008 based on violations of state anti-discrimination laws…
The [new] suit, filed on behalf of taxpayers by the nonprofit Business and Professional People for the Public Interest and the law firm of Sidley Austin, applies a novel legal approach. Nationally, most other suits resemble the Urban League’s. The remaining claim in that suit alleges that Illinois’ funding system discriminates against black and Hispanic students.
Thoughts?
* And now, your legislative roundup…
* Developer considers next step for hobbled STAR bond plan: Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for University Town Center Development, said its representatives would meet today in Springfield with aides to Gov. Pat Quinn and officials from the Illinois Department of Revenue.
* Senator Don Harmon Wins Approval of Bill to Limit Cable TV Contracts to 2 Years: the bill would limit cable and video service contracts to a two-year contract instead of [the current] one-year.
* Bill preventing employers from checking job seekers’ credit scores passes Ill. House committee
* Phony cigarettes are a real threat, say Illinois health advocates
* Rep John Bradley Wins Approval of Plan to Draw Child Psychiatrists to Southern Illinois
Republican members of Illinois’ congressional delegation want Attorney General Lisa Madigan to sue to block the new health care overhaul.
Six lawmakers signed a letter Tuesday urging Madigan to join more than a dozen other state attorneys general who are claiming in court the law is unconstitutional.
Madigan’s office says it isn’t filing a lawsuit. Gov. Pat Quinn, a fellow Democrat, says Illinois won’t do anything to try to block health care reform.
The letter to Madigan was signed by U.S. Reps. Don Manzullo, Aaron Schock, Peter Roskam, Judy Biggert, John Shimkus and Tim Johnson.
This was about the “base,” not about any hopes that AG Madigan would act on this request.
Also, notice that Mark Kirk isn’t on that list of letter writers. [ADDING: Kirk’s absence is a bit puzzling since he promised just the other day to “lead the effort” to repeal the new law.]
* But top Democrats in the GA are nervous about this law. A week ago, the House took up a resolution on the national healthcare issue…
[Resolved] we urge President Obama and the United States Congress to take immediate action to adopt meaningful heath care system reform in keeping with the Obama administration’s articulated goals
The resolution passed with just 62 votes, even though the Democrats have 70 seats.
Democrats voting “No” were Reps. Crespo, DeLuca, Farnham, Franks, McAsey, Sente and Walker. Rep. Jehan Gordon voted “Present.”
Except for Franks and probably Gordon, that’s most of the people on the Republican target list. The Repubs said they’d be whacking the Dems who voted “Yes” and claimed it was an indication that President Obama’s bill is not polling well in key districts. Perhaps the biggest surprise on that “No” list is Rep. Carol Sente, who has a north suburban district formally represented by Kathy Ryg, who quit the seat last year to take a job running Voices for Illinois Children, a statewide group that lobbies for greater health care spending, among other things.
* A new report by NCSL about states introducing measures to repeal or limit healthcare laws is probably destined to get some media coverage. From the report…
As part of state-based responses to federal health reform legislation, individual members of at least 36 state legislatures are using the legislative process to seek to limit, alter or oppose selected state or federal actions, including single-payer provisions and mandates that would require purchase of insurance. In general the measures seek to make or keep health insurance optional, and allow people to purchase
any type of coverage they may choose. The individual state language varies.
Make sure to keep a few things in mind if this does break through. First and foremost, an introduced bill or resolution often means nothing. The Senate Republicans here could introduce a bill banning compliance with the national law and it would never get out of Rules Committee, for instance.
And then there’s this…
None of the other proposals [besides Virginia and Idaho] listed have been finally approved; Arizona’s resolution of June 2009 was the first measure to have passed the legislative process; A Utah bill passed both chambers and awaits action by the governor. A Tennessee and a Georgia bill has passed one chamber; Constitutional resolutions have advanced through initial steps in Florida, Georgia and Missouri (3/16/10). One amendment failed to pass in Georgia on 3/18/10.
“Did not pass” measures: So far in 2010, bills have been rejected or failed to pass in: Indiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming. A Non-binding resolution in Indiana passed the Senate but did not pass the House.
Many of the measures appear to modeled on the conservative legislative group ALEC’s “Freedom of Choice Act,” which was unveiled in 2008. Most of these state proposals appear to have been introduced last year, and they haven’t moved since.
Also, keep this in mind…
In 29 of the states, the proposals include a proposed constitutional amendment by ballot question. In a majority of these states, their constitution includes an additional “hurdle” for passage - requiring either a “supermajority of 60% or 67% for passage, or requiring two affirmative votes in two seprate years, such as 2010 and 2011.
* Related…
* State Insurance Director Michael McRaith discusses the impact of health care reform on Illinois: Right now, ICHIP is prohibitively expensive, with premiums of $12,000 to $16,000 annually. It’s funded two-thirds by premiums and one-third by general revenue funds. The federal law shifts that burden so enrollees pay no more than 35 percent of the cost of the program. That’s about a 30 percent reduction in costs. Our expectation is that we’ll get clear guidance from Washington (about who can get insurance through the pools) within 90 days. We expect an implementation time of 15 to 45 days following that. Since individuals in Illinois can be denied health insurance for any reason other than race, religion, color or national origin, we expect a large number of people will sign up.
The Chicago Police Department may be forced to assume primary responsibility for patrolling 53 miles of Chicago area expressways — at a time when police manpower is woefully short — under Gov. Quinn’s proposal to slash the State Police budget and lay off 464 state troopers.
State Police have had exclusive control over Chicago area expressways since 1985. In 2001, Chicago Police joined forces with the State Police to help enforce traffic laws on the Eisenhower, Dan Ryan, Stevenson, Kennedy, Edens spur and Bishop Ford to curb rampant speeding.
Now, Quinn’s sweeping budget cuts are threatening to shift the entire burden to Chicago as early as July 1 — and it couldn’t come at a more difficult time. The Chicago Police Department is 700 officers short of its authorized strength and more than 2,100 officers short each day, counting those on medical rolls and limited duty.
With expected retirements, the layoffs will reduce the number of sworn state troopers by about 600, or 30 percent, Monken said. The force currently has a little over 2,000 troopers.
The five offices are those in Litchfield, Carmi, Pecatonica, Macomb and Des Plaines. State Police have 22 offices now.
“There will be significant consequences to public safety,” Monken warned.
“We expect an increase in traffic fatalities, increased exposure to terrorist threats in Illinois, an increase in gun and drug trafficking, in addition to the loss of an estimated $12 million in citation revenue for counties across the state,” he said.
Specialty units would be hit hard by the cuts. The Statewide Terrorism Intelligence Center would lose more than half of its officers, and Monken said the State Police’s methamphetamine response team would be “all but eliminated.”
“Investigations will get hit pretty hard when we send people to the Illinois Gaming Board. Those are investigators that go over,” he said.
And while the governor’s office claims this is unrelated to the budget, it most likely is. Gov. Quinn wouldn’t even think about dinging veterans if budget times were good…
The cost to stay in one of the state’s four nursing homes for veterans could jump by as much as 45 percent under a plan being pushed by the Quinn administration.
Quinn, who made veterans a priority during his tenure as lieutenant governor, has asked lawmakers to approve a $400 per month increase in the maintenance fee for veterans’ home residents.
Now, you could say that the proposed $32 million cut to the State Police budget and the increased rate for veterans are just more scare tactics by the governor. Cut schools, cut the coppers, cut the vets. Create panic.
Then again, the state is deeply in the red. The governor’s proposed $2+ billion in cuts would have to be tripled to erase the current structural deficit. And then there’s that projected $6+ billion in past due bills that the state can’t afford to pay and will roll over into Fiscal Year 2012.
You can’t just cut “fat” and make the numbers work by magic. You have to cut muscle and bone.
A top contender for Gov. Pat Quinn’s running mate job said Tuesday that Quinn has failed to make the case that raising taxes is the only way to solve Illinois’ budget crisis, potentially undercutting the governor on his signature issue.
Sen. Susan Garrett said if the state cuts unnecessary spending and reduces pension costs she would be willing to consider Quinn’s proposal for higher taxes.
“But we’re not ready to do that yet. The message hasn’t been articulated to the general public,” the Lake Forest Democrat told reporters.
I don’t think she was nearly as harsh on Quinn as the lede implies (watch the video if you missed it yesterday). She never specifically blamed Quinn for not articulating the message, using “we” over and over again. But this sort of story was easily predictable.
The Illinois GOP e-mailed the article to its press list earlier this morning. They’re clearly happy with the result. Expect more like this.
Also along that vein, Sen. Garrett admitted publicly yesterday that she had been contacted by Gov. Quinn’s chief of staff about running for the LG office. Others, however, haven’t even been able to get their calls returned…
Unlike Garrett, [state Rep. Mike Boland (D-East Moline)] said he has not been contacted by Quinn or his top aides, but he has tried.
“All of us have probably sent communications to the governor, but none of us have ever gotten called back,” he said.
Rep. Boland has touted himself as Quinn’s top legislative ally for years. If people like him can’t get a return call while top Quinnsters court Garrett and supply her with a “driver” on interview day, then you get a good idea of where this is going.
I had a long talk with Garrett yesterday, and I’ll have more on this for subscribers tomorrow.
*** UPDATE *** From a press release…
State Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) yesterday announced he would step aside in his quest to be the Lt. Governor and throw his support to Art Turner to be named the Democratic nominee.
…Boland’s wife, Mary Boland, is a member of the Democratic State Central Committee.
“It is my strong belief that the nominee to replace Scott Lee Cohen should be someone who ran for the office of Lt. Governor in the February Primary,” Boland stated. “To not choose someone who has already campaigned extensively throughout this huge state and garnered over 180,000 votes would be to tell all of the hundreds of thousands of voters who took the time and made the effort to vote in the primary election that their votes meant nothing,” Boland emphasized. “Art Turner came in second in the primary voting and that has to mean something,”said Boland.
